Microsoft releases preview of Azure App Service MySQL in-app support

Developers can now use Microsoft’s Azure App Service to create Web applications built with MySQL. A Microsoft Azure blog post released today went into more depth about the new feature currently in preview.

MySQL in-app enables developers to run the MySQL server side-by-side with their Web application within the same environment, which makes it easier to develop and test PHP applications that use MySQL.

To make this new features even more accessible, developers can get started in the Azure Portal.

The MySQL application support allows for many opportunities that weren’t present in the Azure App Service before. It supports many popularly used PHP applications such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. The storage shared between the web applications and the MySQL is shared in the same location for efficiency.While slow query logging and general logging are available and do work, it’s not recommended. The custom logging can cause performance issues that will affect the overall performance.

Creating Web applications with the MySQL database doesn’t require any additional purchase besides that of the Azure App Services. However, it does come with some drawbacks and limitations. Some tips that the Microsoft Azure blog post shared included:

Note you only get one MySQL database per web application. In a scenario where you have a deployment slot web app and a production web app, you will get one MySQL database for the deployment slot and one MySQL database for the production web app, if you decide to turn on this feature for each app. The database contents will not be synchronized, which makes it easier for you to try different schema versions and content.

The MySQL database cannot be accessed remotely using the MySQL CLI or other tools that access external endpoints. You can only access your database content using PHPMyAdmin (which is bootstrapped upon provisioning) or using the KUDU debug console.

SInce the in-app MySQL is a preview feature, keep in mind that it shouldn’t be used for application production. Read more about the new feature for Azure App Service in detail on the Microsoft Developers blog.